Press Release
February 4, 2010

'Save the Life of Jakatia Pawa' movement launched

Nacionalista Party president Sen. Manny Villar heightened his call to the government to exhaust all means to save a sentenced overseas Filipino worker (OFW) from the death row in Kuwait.

"Our government must assiduously exert every effort and act with dispatch to save the life of our threatened migrant worker Jakatia," said Villar, who earlier endorsed OFW Jakatia Pawa's case to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

 Villar's office has joined the movement to save the sentenced migrant worker from imminent execution which was initiated today at Salam Mosque Compound in Barangay Culiat, Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

 The beleaguered OFW from Zamboanga del Norte is currently detained at the Kuwait Central Jail. The Kuwaiti Supreme Court affirmed her death sentence on Jan. 19.

The launching, marked by a forum, vigil, signature drive and online petition, was spearheaded by alliance of migrant workers Migrante International, and supported by the women's group Gabriela led by senatorial aspirant Rep. Liza Maza and Rep. Luz Ilagan, the Religious of the Good Shepherd, the Culiat Muslim Community, and the Office of Villar.

 Speaking at the forum were Ilagan, Sister Maureen Catabian of the Religious of the Good Shepherd, vice-chair Muhaymin Astie of the Salam Mosque Madrasah Advisory Council, Migrante chair Garry Martinez, and Villar's representative Lerma Pineda.

The organizers asked the public to join efforts at saving the OFW, and urged churches of all denominations to hold vigils across the country for Jakatia.

A graduate of Zamboanga Alturo Eustaquio Colleges in Zamboanga City with the degree of Bachelor of Science in banking and finance, Pawa was sentenced to death for killing her employer's 22-year-old daughter. She strongly maintains her innocence.

 The elder brothers of the OFW, Maj. Angaris Pawa, 46, of the Philippine Air Force and retired SPO4 Wares Pawa, 58, earlier visited the helpline office of Villar in Mandaluyong City to seek assistance.

Major Pawa stressed that the blood stain found on the weapon did not match that of his sister, emphasizing it was impossible for Jakatia's frail frame to inflict "28 stab wounds" on the victim.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said on Jan. 26 that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is sending Vice-President Noli De Castro to Kuwait to carry her letter to the Emir asking for clemency.

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